Family
by Land of The Delta Blues
Summary: After Jax and Tara are killed in a tragic motorcycle accident, the care of Abel and Thomas is left to Chibs and Fiona. How will they handle raising the boys while trying to put their lives back together.
1. Chapter 1

**Plot Line: **He already loved Abel and Thomas as if they were his own sons and was more than willing to care for them when the time came. However, not everyone is happy about this decision.

**Inspiration: **A while back when Jax and Tara were trying to figure out who they should name as Abel and Thomas's guardian's if something happened, a friend of mine suggested Chibs. As well as there aren't enough stories involving the pairing of Chibs/Fiona.

**Spoilers: **None that I can think of.

**Rating: **T

**Pairings: **Chibs/Fiona

**View point: **Third person

**Disclaimer: **I am not Kurt Sutter.

* * *

Filip Telford was not a man with whom the words gentle or emotional were often associated. In fact, as far as the majority of society was concerned he was a ruthless cold-hearted savage with an unquenchable bloodlust. However, the Sergeant at Arms of the most feared group of men in Charming, California was not ashamed to admit that the previous evening he had cried like a baby in his wife's arms at the funeral of two of his closest friends. At the current moment, his breakfast was sitting untouched in front of him on the kitchen table.

His wife, Fiona, stood behind him leaning against the kitchen counter. She sighed softly before speaking "at least try to eat something lovely."

He nodded half heartedly, but didn't pick up his fork or attempt to eat. Instead he turned to look at her over his shoulder. "He was like a son to me Fi."

She squeezed his hand softly before gently pulling him up out of his seat into an embrace. She didn't know what to say to comfort him, but wanted him to know that she would be there to help him mourn. They stood in the kitchen for a few minutes holding each other until there was a hard knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" their daughter, Kerrianne, yelled shooting them a quick disgusted look before racing to the front door.

Filip wasn't expecting anyone, but the other members of the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle gang would often drop by unannounced to "visit". The other men usually barged in without knocking, but he couldn't think of anybody else that would be at the door. He was surprised to hear the voice of Ally Lowen at the door. Lowen was an attorney who had helped the club with everything from murder raps to marriage licenses, but Filip had no idea why she would be at his door.

The brunette attorney walked into the kitchen. "There's a few papers I'm going to need you to sign before you can pick up the boys."

"Pick up the boys?" Fiona asked confused.

"Da...what's going on?" Kerrianne stuttered.

Filip was just as confused as his wife and daughter. "What are you talking about?" he asked eyeing the attorney carefully.

"Jackson Teller's will named you two as the legal guardian of Abel and Thomas Teller. I assumed you already knew that." she paused to take in the group's shocked expressions before continuing, "Jax and Tara didn't discuss this with either of you, did they?"

"He mentioned a will, but not the contents." Filip responded. It felt wrong to him discussing a will written by his friend who had only been thirty-three years old. Despite having seen the caskets, he knew part of him was still in denial about the deaths and what Lowen was suggesting now was so odd and foreign to him that he didn't even know how to process it.

He was snapped out of his uneasy thoughts by Kerrianne speaking. "Not to be rude, but shouldn't Gemma have been named?"

Gemma Teller was Jax's biological mother, however Filip had known for a long time that Jax probably wouldn't trust her with the permanent care of the boys. Still, he knew she wouldn't take the custody news well.

"I don't suppose she knows about this yet?" he asked, already sure he knew the answer.

"I thought you could call one of your club meetings later on and tell everybody."

"Jesus," he sighed turning to look at Fiona who returned his glance worriedly.

"What are we supposed to do?" Kerrianne asked looking at both of them.

"We take in the wee lads." Fiona responded without thinking.

Lowen was now looking at him, "is that something you both agree on?"

He nodded "aye, i'll explain everything to Gemma later." He had a feeling that it wouldn't be as simple as explaining, but at the current moment he was more concerned with what would happen to the boys if they didn't obey the will.

Lowen sat the file she'd been holding down on the table "all the paperwork is right here."

"We don't even have a place for them to sleep." Kerrianne stuttered.

He thought about this for a second before speaking, "I'll get the prospects to clear the boxes out of that spare room."

He didn't remember much of the next hour although he knew he should memorize the contents of each paper that he put his signature on. Before he knew it Lowen was explaining to Fiona how to reach the child services center in Oakland where the boys were waiting.

"You do have a car, right?" Lowen asked smiling turning towards him. "I don't think it would be wise to transfer the boys on a bike." seeing that he wasn't in the mood for a joke she added, "I'm sure it's in the garage. I'll get the car seats out of my van."

Actually, it wasn't a stupid question. Up until roughly six months earlier when Fiona and Kerrianne had came to live with him full time he'd only had his bike. However, he'd wanted Fiona to be able to move from place to place of her own free will so he'd finally broken down and bought a small car for her. It was just big enough for Fiona, himself, Kerrianne and now the boys to ride in comfortably.

After he'd helped Lowen secure the car seats in back seat, he heard Kerrianne whine to Fiona "Ma, do I have to come with you and Da?" It was oddly reassuring knowing that even in a time like this she was back to her typical teenage self.

"We're not leaving you alone." he heard Fiona respond.

"But Ma..."

"No buts."

He couldn't help but chuckle as Kerrianne turned to him almost pleading. "Your mother's right. You've babysat for Abel and Thomas before anyway, so I thought you'd want to see them."

"But I'll have the rest of my life to see them!" she whined.

"Well your ma and I still don't want to leave you alone."

"Fine," she sighed climbing into the back seat.

For several minutes the only words spoken were the directions Fiona gave him. Everybody was thinking about how their lives were going to change, but nobody wanted to say this.

Lowen had called ahead to let the center know that they would be arriving and that it would be fine to let Abel and Thomas leave with them, but they still didn't know what to expect. The building was a sterile looking structure of metal and glass which reminded Filip of a hospital and made him feel uneasy. Apparently as nervous as he was, Fiona immediately grabbed his hand when they got out of the car, and squeezed it tightly.

They walked towards the front door holding hands, while Kerrianne trailed behind them nervously.

He could tell the woman at the front desk was regarding them suspiciously and that's when Filip realized that he was wearing his jacket with the patches on the front and the reaper symbol on the back. Unfortunately, the jacket carried a certain reputation with it. Before she spoke, she eyed both him and Fiona a second time.

"How may I help you?" the tone suggested that she was hoping they were there by mistake and didn't need any help at all.

"Filip and Fiona Telford...I believe Ally Lowen phoned ahead about us." he responded.

"I'm so sorry..." she looked even more scared than she had before, but her next comment still surprised him. "Please don't hurt me!"

He couldn't help but look at her incredulously, unsure of how to respond.

Fortunately, Fiona was better able to respond "We're just here about the boys sweetheart."

The woman took a deep breath "right, of course. I'll take you to them."

They followed her down the hall for a few minutes before coming to a stop in front of a room with a window. It reminded him of another time when he'd been forced to watch from the other side of the glass, but this time he could control what events unfolded. Still, it reassured him being able to squeeze Fiona's hand for comfort.

"They're in there." the woman said quickly before turning to almost run back to the front desk.

"I don't think she likes you very much." Kerrianne attempted to joke.

"What's not to like?"

He turned to look at Fiona who was quietly smiling at him. He couldn't help but realize in that moment how much he loved her and how secretly excited he was to be able to raise the boys with her. He hadn't been able to be there for Kerrianne's childhood, which was something he could never reverse. However this would be almost like a new beginning for them both.

"Are we going to go in there or did we just come here for you two to stare at each other and reevaluate your life choices?!" Kerrianne grumbled snapping him out of his thoughts.

He fake sighed "teenagers..." which caused Fiona to smile even wider and stifle a giggle.

Now, however it was time to be serious. Thomas would be too young to understand what had happened, but Abel was old enough to grasp some of the concepts of what he'd seen the previous night before the social worker had taken him away. Filip wasn't looking forward to the talk they'd have to have with him about his parents' deaths.

There was another woman playing with Abel when they walked into the room, but as soon as the door opened the four year old rushed to the three familiar figures. Filip tried to fake a smile as the boy clutched his leg in a hug.

Innocently Abel asked "Where's Daddy?"

Filip knew that when he looked at the little boy there were tears in his eyes and he didn't care how it made him look. "Why don't we sit down." he managed to choke out.

The only chairs in the room went with a children's play table and were far too tiny for any adult to sit in, so he found himself sitting on the floor. He dreaded this part most of all. He knew Abel was old enough to know something had happened, but young enough to not grasp exactly what it was and no matter what he said he was going to shatter the child's whole world.

He had no clue how to begin and he almost wished that Fiona, Kerrianne or even the social worker ,who was silently watching them, would begin for him. However, he had no such luck.

Finally he took a deep breath before speaking "Abel, you know your da loves you very much and that if he could be here he would." He found his voice choking up with tears again before he could say anything else.

He wasn't sure what exactly happened next, but soon they were all hugging. They probably looked mismatched to the casual observer, but this was his family and he knew that he would do everything to keep each and every member safe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews and favorites. They mean so much.**

The rest of the morning had went fairly well. Filip knew he didn't have much time to make his home safe and comfortable for two children, but the other bikers had been more than willing to step in to help.

It was late afternoon and he was with Juice removing the last of Abel and Thomas's things from what had been Jax and Tara's house. The younger biker appeared to be taking everything even worse than he was, or at least wasn't as good at hiding his emotions.

"They're really gone aren't they?" he asked shifting a box of Abel's toys so he could discreetly wipe his eyes.

Filip was about to respond when his cellphone went off. He set a box of clothing on the ground so he could grab the phone out of the front pocket of his cut. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he didn't think it could get much worse than what had already happened over the past few days.

"Gemma just showed up here drunk about ten minutes ago." Alex "Tig" Trager offered as a greeting as soon as he answered the phone.

"Jesus," Filip sighed running a hand through his hair.

"I was taking a leak and Unser couldn't really pry them apart on his own."

He found himself almost frantic although he didn't want to let it show "What did she do?"

Tig took a deep breath at the other end of the line, "she attacked Fiona."

He could feel the lump forming in his throat even though he knew his wife was more than capable of winning a fight on her own. "Is she hurt?"

"Not as bad as Gemma."

The response was typical Tig but it didn't make him feel any better. "How bad is she?"

"I'm not sure. She locked herself in the bathroom."

This was almost worse than what had happened previously. He'd known Gemma would have a strong reaction, but he hadn't anticipated exactly how violent it would be. He knew he should have, the woman was a spitfire. Even at the age of fifty-eight and with a bad heart she could put up a fight that would make a grown man shake in fear. He knew Fiona could also put up a fight, but he couldn't help but be worried. She would have been taken by surprise and he wasn't sure what he was going to find when he returned home.

"What happened?" Juice asked as soon as he got off the phone.

"Gemma," was the only explanation Filip offered before getting on his bike leaving Juice with the boxes.

When he arrived, he raced to the front door and threw it open before allowing it to close with a loud slam. Kerrianne and Abel both jumped and Thomas immediately started crying. Unser, who was sitting at the kitchen table, looked surprised for a brief moment before returning to normal after he saw who it was.

"Where is Tig?"

"He took Gemma to the emergency room."

"What about Fiona?"

Unser pointed towards the bathroom door, "she won't come out. You might want to check on her."

He'd found himself angry at everybody while he was riding and had been sure he would explode however now all he wanted to do was see his wife. He found himself pounding on the bathroom door. "Christ Fiona, you can't stay in there forever."

"I'm fine Filip."

He took a deep breath and tried to sound calm, "I know what happened love, you're not fine."

He could hear the door unlock from the other side before footsteps seemed to retreat to the other side of the bathroom. When he opened the door Fiona was turned away from him so he couldn't see if she was badly hurt. When he closed the door behind him she turned around.

"Jesus Christ Fi," he sighed taking her appearance in. The bruises were already beginning to form on her face and her left eye was almost swollen shut. He tore himself away from her face to take in her other injuries. Her dark skin was covered in even more bruises. He wanted to touch her, to hold her, but he wasn't sure if he'd end up causing her to be in even more pain so he was forced to stand back helplessly.

"What happened?" he wanted to hear everything from her.

"I heard a car pull into the driveway. She was screaming, but I thought I could reason with her." she paused and took a deep, pained sounding breath before continuing.

He could see her eyes beginning to water up as she looked at him and he knew he wouldn't be able to stand back much longer.

"She put me in a bloody choke hold before I could even speak..."

He decided to divert the subject, noticing that her normally strong demeanor was cracking. "You should have let Tig take you to the hospital."

"And leave Unser to help Kerrianne watch the boys?" she snorted.

"You need to see a doctor Fi." he countered.

"I don't think most doctors take too kindly to our type love."

She was right, with Tara gone they couldn't even be sure that Margaret Murphy would come to their defense, still he wished she would see his logic and let herself be examined. "At least let me examine you."

After what seemed like forever she relented and allowed him to lead her into the master bedroom. Slowly Fiona began to remove her shirt, wincing in pain as she struggled with the buttons. Filip didn't like seeing her in pain and he found himself reaching for the buttons at the same time. Their hands brushed together briefly and despite his best attempts to focus he found a brief wave of desire flicker through his body. He could tell she felt it too, but they both knew that now wasn't the time for intercourse and the feelings were immediately banished from his body.

It pained him to be the person to inflict even more pain on her, but he wanted to gauge exactly how badly she'd been hurt by Gemma. He met her eyes as he placed one hand on her side and lightly brushed her hair away from her face with the other "Fi, it's important that you tell me exactly where it hurts."

"I'm fine Filip, I'm not even sure why I agreed to this." she grumbled.

"Jesus Christ woman, I should be making you see a real doctor at a hospital!" he countered. "You're covered in cuts and bruises."

"They're minor scratches love." she paused before adding "when we were younger, you used to draw blood all the time."

He caught himself smiling at the fond memories she bought up, but didn't allow himself to be distracted by her apparent diversion. He knew that she wasn't fond of hospitals or medical treatment, and while he could share the sentiment he wasn't about to watch her suffer from her injuries.

Without allowing his eyes to leave hers he pressed her rib cage gently. The verbal outburst that the small amount of pressure caused confirmed his suspicion that at least one rib was bruised.

"Why don't you take a bubble bath." he sighed. As much as he wanted her to take the time to heal, he knew that even if they weren't the guardians of the boys she would want to be on her feet again as soon as possible. A bath seemed like a reasonable substitute that would help her temporarily.

"I don't have time for that love. Somebody needs to take care of the boys and we need to finish preparing their room."

Filip cut off his wife's rambling with a soft kiss. "Juicy and I will finish getting the room together and Kerri can watch the boys. You are going to take a nice long relaxing bath."

Fiona knew it would be fruitless to protest and found herself reluctantly giving in, even allowing him to lift her off of the bed and carry her back into the bathroom.

Filip set her down on the floor and began turning the taps on the tub until he was sure that it would be comfortable for her.

Fiona struggled with her remaining clothing for a few minutes before Filip found himself taking over and gently helping her. Neither of them heard the footsteps until the door opened and Juice fumbled his way into the room before apparently realizing how private the situation he'd intruded on was.

"I...umm, you're naked. I mean I'm not staring I'm uhh."

"Just shut your mouth and get out." Filip growled.

"I umm...I'll be in the hall. Or maybe I should umm leave." Juice turned around quickly, running into the door frame in the process.

Filip waited to make sure that Fiona was comfortable in her bath before leaving the room "I should check on the kid before he runs off."


	3. Chapter 3

**Again, thank you for the support both from here on and from my Tumblr followers who occasionally have helped me sort out plot kinks. This chapter is kind of short and the ending is kind of weird, but I like the overall content.**

Filip found Juice in the hallway outside the master bedroom clutching his eye and looking embarrassed. "I'm really sorry man, if I had known that you, that Fiona was..." he stuttered.

Although he found himself slightly annoyed with the young man, Filip knew he still needed his help if he was going to finish setting up the boys' room so he made a mental note to forgive him. "You seem to have an uncanny ability to put yourself into awkward situations don't you boy?"

Juice seemed to want to leave as soon as possible "The boxes are in the living room. You can go through them whenever you're ready. I uhh, I really need to leave."

"Why are you suddenly in such a big hurry, boy?" Filip growled. "You can't expect me to finish putting the crib together without help."

"Well, Unser's still here." Juice responded a little too quickly. "and umm I'm sure he'd love to help."

Juice's face was still slightly flushed and it suddenly hit Filip why the younger biker was in such a hurry to leave. He couldn't stop a deep chuckle from escaping "I know you've seen a naked woman before Juicy."

"Yeah, but not your wife..." he stuttered before adding "I mean not that I'm supposed to have seen her naked before I just...I umm she well."

Filip sighed, he knew it was going to take Juice a while to sort out what he wanted to say and there didn't seem to be enough time for anymore setbacks if he was going to have the room ready by nightfall. He found a welcome distraction when Unser walked up behind him.

"How's your old lady doing?" the older man asked.

"Fi's a trooper." he responded "she'll be back on her feet in no time."

"You might want to tell your daughter that. She's pretty shook up by the whole ordeal."

Filip honestly hadn't thought about how Kerrianne would be affected by everything. He knew he should have. She had witnessed her ma being viciously attacked by Gemma and he realized that nobody had told her what had happened after Fiona had ran into the bathroom. Combined with Juice running out of the room clutching his eye it must have been terrifying.

"I'll go talk to her." he nodded.

He found his daughter in the kitchen retrieving a can of Coca Cola from the refrigerator.

"Hey darling." he said causing her to jump again before turning around.

"Oh, hey Da." he could tell she'd been crying.

"Unser said you were pretty shook up by everything."

"Is...is Ma going to be okay?" she asked wiping a tear from her eye.

He reached over her shoulder to grab a beer out of the fridge before changing his mind and instead grabbing another Coke. "You know your Ma, she's hurt but she won't rest. We're both going to have to help her with that." he responded popping the tab and taking a drink of his Coke.

"How...how bad is she?" Kerrianne stuttered, her lower lip trembling.

At first Filip had wanted to sugarcoat the situation for his seventeen year old daughter, but now, looking at how scared she was, he realized that she needed to hear the full truth about her mother's condition. "I think she has a few bruised ribs and you're going to have to be prepared for how she looks. You know how your Ma gets self conscious, so don't say anything about it."

Kerrianne seemed calmer for a minute before her expression turned puzzled "Why did Juice run into the hallway clutching his eye?"

"He accidentally walked in when I was running a bath for your ma and I think he saw more than he wanted to." Filip chuckled.

Kerrianne was silent for a few minutes before her face contorted into an expression of disgust "Eww! Da!"

"Sorry lovely." Filip chuckled.

"I need to make sure Abel is still watching cartoons." she said stepping around him to walk out of the room.

Filip followed his daughter and found Abel sitting on the couch with Juice, both watching Scooby Doo. Thomas was sitting in his carrier on the floor nearby.

"C'mon Juicey, I still need your help to reassemble the crib." he slapped the younger man on the back trying to urge him to get up.

Juice's eye was beginning to swell shut, much like Fiona's had earlier.

"You should probably put some ice on your eye or you'll have to tell everybody how you really hurt it."

"I'll just tell them you hit me." Juice responded teasing.

Both men looked up at the sound of soft footsteps entering the room. Filip couldn't help but smile when he saw his wife clad in her favorite brightly colored flannel pajamas complete with slippers which looked like pink bear claws. Although her eye was still swollen and he could still see the bruises, he thought she looked better and he was relieved to see her. Judging by Juice's expression, his emotions weren't the same but Filip didn't care. As corny as it sounded, he felt if his girls were okay everything would come together.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the reviews. Next up Wendy shows up and inadvertently causes trouble for the Telford family.**

It had been two days since the boys had came to live with the Telford family and in that time things had certainly gone much smoother than they had the first day. Filip hadn't wanted to go into work that day, but with the president of the club dead every club member was needed more than ever. Kerrianne had been forced to go school because she couldn't afford to miss any more days if she didn't want to take finals. As a result, Fiona was home alone with the boys. For the most part she had no problem with this. Abel and Thomas had both behaved and she had taken painkillers for her sore ribs. The boys were taking a nap, and she was taking the opportunity to clean up the living room when the doorbell rang.

As with any family involved in criminal activities, she'd learned to be cautious with answering the door. This had been enhanced even more over the past few days after her run in with Gemma. She found herself keeping the chain in place even as she opened the door. A tall blonde stood at the other side and Fiona struggled to remember who she could be or if they'd met before.

"Wendy Case." the woman responded to the unasked question, extending her hand for Fiona to shake. When the gesture remained unreturned she added "Abel Teller's biological mother."

"The wee lads are resting right now." Fiona slowly reached to unlatch the chain while stepping back from the door at the same time which caused Wendy to look at her puzzled.

"You're their guardian now?" Wendy asked eyeing the dark skinned woman for a few seconds.

"Aye, the will left my Filip and I as their legal guardians."

"Filip?"

Fiona realized that Wendy had probably never heard of her husband by any other name than the one the club had given him. "Chibs."

"Is he here right now?" Wendy asked.

"He's at the club house right now." Fiona wasn't sure why Wendy was so eager to know where Chibs was, but didn't really think much of it "Do you want to wait for the wee ones to wake up?"

"No, I'll come back some other time." then Wendy said something that completely confused Fiona. "You don't have to put up with this just because he's with the MC."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Fiona hadn't considered that Wendy could have ended up misinterpreting the results of her tussle with Gemma to be the result of domestic violence.

Wendy looked briefly troubled before turning around to walk back down the driveway.

Although the comment made by the younger woman was puzzling and troubling, Fiona didn't allow it to trouble her and I soon temporarily put it in the back of her mind. In fact, she didn't remember to tell Filip about the visit until later in the evening.

"Abel's biological mother dropped by earlier this afternoon. I hope she doesn't plan to try to sue for custody." Fiona told her husband as they washed the dishes.

"Don't worry about it love, no judge is going to grant her custody with her history." Filip responded.

"We're not exactly perfect role models either." she pointed out.

Filip opened his mouth to respond when there was a knock at the door. Kerrianne was at a friend's house, so he found himself responding. For the second time in the past three days he was surprised to see Lowen at the door with a folder under her arm. However, even more surprising was the other person on the doorstep. Wendy Case was standing nervously slightly behind Lowen.

"Is there something I can do for you?" he asked warily.

"Is Fiona around?" the brunette asked.

"She's in the kitchen." he was puzzled by the glare Wendy seemed to give him as they walked past.

"What is this about?" Fiona asked as the two women walked into the kitchen.

"Are you sure you want to talk about this with him around?" Wendy asked.

Fiona tried to hide her confusion "I don't have anything to hide from my husband."

"This could be a touchy issue."

Now it was impossible to hide her confusion. Luckily the situation was diffused by Abel coming into the living room dragging his teddy bear. "I think there's a monster under the bed."

"Well, we can't have that now can we. Why don't I give that monster a piece of my mind." Filip smiled before scooping the boy up to carry him back to his room.

Fiona couldn't help but smile at the scene before turning back to the other women.

"What is this about?"

"How did you obtain your injuries?" Lowen asked while pulling some papers out of the folder.

"It was a misunderstanding with..." before she could finish she was cut off by Wendy.

"He might have even told you that he wouldn't do it again."

The older woman's confusion disappeared replaced by slight anger "You obviously don't know Filip if you think he's the person who injured me. It might be hard for you to wrap your pretty little head around, but he's not some pig with a bike. Beneath that exterior that you are shallow enough to only see is a gentle, intelligent man!" she spat. Normally she wouldn't let herself become so angry, but there were certain things that were not tolerated in Fiona Telford's book.

Lowen waited for the woman to cool down before deciding to ask the question again "How did you obtain your injuries?"

"A drunken catfight with Gemma."

Lowen eyed her nervously.

"I assure you I was not the drunk party or the instigator."

"Why would Gemma Teller start a catfight with you?"

"I think she was angry about not getting custody of the boys."

"Why didn't you go to the doctor?"

"I don't like hospitals." she sighed "How many more stupid questions do you have to ask? If we're done then I'd suggest you both leave."


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm super sorry about how long it's taken me to update there is literally no excuse whatsoever for this...anyway, I think this chapter is a little cheerier than the last few.**

Time seemed to fly by incredibly quickly as days turned into weeks and before Filip had time to blink, two whole months had passed since Jax and Tara's death. Abel and Thomas had adjusted surprisingly well and it had been weeks since the older boy had asked about his parents. Over all, Filip admired that his girls had adjusted to the situation so well. It seemed that the little group had quickly learned how to move in rhythm with eachother. On this bright sunny morning they were all unaware that before the day was through another body would be added to their unique chaotic dance.

It was mid June and summer sun peered through the blinds as the sound of an opening door caused the couple in bed to stir. Filip blinked and reached up to rub his eyes as his wife who had been sleeping on his chest yawned. Both of them looked up as a small figure jumped on the bed.

"Wake up! Wake up Uncle Chibs and Aunt Fiona!" Abel squealed loudly jumping up and down on the bed next to them.

"Isn't it a little early wee lad?" Filip asked, trying to roll onto his side to check the clock.

"I think he's hungry." Kerrianne piped in from the doorway.

Fiona rolled over to look at her daughter as Abel jumped off the bed. "Well why don't you make pancakes dear,your da and I will be up in twenty minutes."

"Fine..." Kerrianne huffed, "but you know Abel can't tell time, so don't do anything weird."

" I don't know what you mean by weird dear." Filip smiled at his daughter.

Kerrianne rolled her eyes "If you keep it up, there's no way I'm going to be hungry."

"That means more for your ma and I."

Kerrianne stuck her tongue out at her parents before grabbing Abel's hand "C'mon, let's get breakfast."

Filip waited until the door had closed again to turn back to his wife..."What do you think we should do now?"

"Shower..." Fiona mumbled while stretching.

Filip smiled "and being that there are three other people in the house it would only be considerate to try to conserve water."

Fiona nodded and smiled in agreement "much quicker too, so that our darling daughter doesn't think we're doing anything weird." she paused to kiss him before rolling out of bed.

Fifteen minutes later, while Fiona was finishing getting dressed Filip strolled into the kitchen whistling. Kerrianne eyed him warily but didn't say anything and instead opted to place a plate of pancakes in front of him as he sat down.

As soon as Fiona arrived in the kitchen, the family ate in mostly silence except for the occasional compliment on Kerrianne's cooking from both parents and Abel's insistence that he suddenly didn't like sticky foods.

After breakfast and the dishes were finished Filip kissed each family member and prepared to head off to the clubhouse.

For a few hours everything seemed to go smoothly. There were a few cars in the shop to be repaired and work seemed to go smoothly. That was until Mayhem, Tig's rescue pit bull started sniffing and barking around the dumpster.

"Hey Tig, tell your dog to shut up!" Juice yelled.

"Why don't you shut up!" Tig countered.

That's when Filip thought he heard a small yelping noise coming from inside the dumpster.

"Shut up both you muppets!" he growled at the two fighting men, and they both watched in confusion as he ran over to the dumpster and put his ear to the side of it. Mayhem stopped her frantic barking and pacing and looked up at him as if she knew exactly what he was doing.

Another yelp emitted from the dumpster and this time Juice and Tig heard it as well.

"Is that a dog yelping?" Juice asked.

Filip already had the lid off the dumpster, "Hold this!" he instructed tossing a bag of garbage at the mohawked man who stumbled under the weight of it.

The puppy was cowering in the open space shaking and whimpering and it tried to move away as he reached for it "C'mon you little bastard, I'm not going to hurt you."

The puppy tried to step forward, only to loose it's balance and tumble further into the recesses of the dumpster. Filip sighed, he hadn't wanted to actually dive into the dumpster, but he wasn't heartless enough to just leave the puppy inside the dumpster and there were no prospects around to do the dirty work. Taking a deep breath he dove in. It felt like it took an eternity to grab the puppy, but it had to be less than a minute before he emerged for air holding the dog which Tig took as he climbed out of the dumpster.

The men worked to get the puppy inside the clubhouse where they immediately got it a bowl of water to drink. Fifteen minutes later when Gemma walked into the room she found the trio crowded around the puppy with Mayhem sitting off to the side wagging her tail.

"Should I ask what you three are doing and why Chibs smells like garbage?"

"Can you believe some fucking retard left a puppy in the dumpster?!" Tig responded angrily.

"Jesus Christ, a live one?"

"The poor bastard was whimpering and Mayhem heard him." Filip responded not taking his eyes off the puppy which seemed to be adjusting well and was trying to climb onto his lap.

"What breed is it?" Gemma asked walking over to peer over the biker's shoulder.

"It looks like an English Mastiff."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"We don't know yet."

Gemma wrinkled her nose "Jesus Christ Chibs, take a shower right now instead of worrying about the dog...there's no way you're going to be smelling like garbage when my grandkids show up."

Each of the bikers' little dormitories in the back of the clubhouse had a bathroom complete with a shower and Filip found himself retreating to his. He hadn't noticed the odor of the garbage before, but it was only a matter of time before more bikers crowded into the clubhouse and began making jokes towards him about his stench.

The puppy scampered after him trying to follow him into the apartment, but he managed to shut the door before it could enter. However, when he exited the shower and walked into the bedroom part of the dorm, he discovered he wasn't alone. He hadn't heard the door open and close due to the shower running, but Fiona was sitting on the bed smiling at him.

"Gemma said you were in here." she offered as an explanation.

He leaned over to kiss her before asking "where are Kerri and the lads?"

"They're in the bar...I think Juice is showing them the pup you rescued."

"I don't know what kind of heartless bastard would leave the mutt to rot in the dumpster." he scowled, dropping his towel and beginning to rifle through the clothing drawers.

"It's hard to understand some people, but you did the right thing rescuing it. I'm sure somebody will find a nice home for it."

"You know he tried to follow me in here Fi." Filip hadn't originally intended to suggest the puppy had a permanent place in their family, but slowly he was realizing that he was growing more and more fond of it and he didn't want to see it go home with just anybody.

"We've already got three kids to raise...we don't need another mouth to feed Filip."

Filip paused and nodded, "you're right...but I don't want to see him go home with just anybody."

"You have a good heart, but it's not our place to worry anymore." Fiona countered.

The couple remained in silence, both thinking as Filip finished getting dressed.


End file.
